Who Glued The Hearts Together? (2003-10-20)

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me... He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted..." - Luke 4:18 NKJB

Mr. Lo was proud to show us some pictures on his little desk in his simply decorated room. He would not be able to put much personal touch to the room because, after all, he is in Kin On Nursing Home.  Nonetheless, he was one of the lucky ones who has a room for himself.

All the pictures show people gathering together, having a good time.  "You see," Mr. Lo patiently explained, "These photographs are all taken one year apart on my birthdays." We asked him about the people in the pictures. It turned out that they were all people in Kin On. When we asked about his relatives, a dark cloud descended upon Mr. Lo's face.  His family very seldom visited him, not even on his birthdays.

Lord, ever since Steven's Mom was admitted into Kin On, Steven met many broken hearts like Mr. Lo. In fact, when Steven's Mom came down with stroke, Steven's own heart was in pieces. Lord, you are the best glue.  Please help us put these pieces back together...

-.-

"Wow! How did you put this together?" We asked Mary, the inmate who handed us this colorful three dimensional paper heart having the size of a large strawberry. She used thin pieces of paper of different colors to intricately weave it together, crossing and tying knots precisely at the right places. She did not even use one drop of glue for glue is what they called contraband, not allowed in their living quarters. At the sight of this hand work, We tried to speak and no words came out because we knew that Jesus will use these paper hearts to heal the broken hearted. No, no glue is needed because Jesus is the glue and the best kind...

Yes, you guessed right. We got this idea of having Mary make many of these and I'd take them to places like Kin On to encouraged the discouraged, to lift up the down cast faces and to heal the broken hearts. I know you must think that we were crazy because taking anything outside of the detention center is as hard as moving mountains. Luckily, our faith was just about the size of a mustard seed. (Matthew 17:20-21)

The response from Miss Young, the Education Supervisor, was different from what we expected. She not only wanted one inmate to do it, she wanted to set up a production team for it within FDC. OK, let me get this right. The Heart Renewal Prison Ministry was about to facilitate a production process. None of us signed up for this kind of work when we joined the ministry and I seriously doubt if any of us had the proper training for it. Yet, in a simple way, Lord, we were ready!
  
-.-

During one religious service, Mary shared with us that the production process was not trivial. It was relatively manageable if she and her roommate were to do it just by themselves, but it was difficult to teach others. They all have different skill levels. One night she felt discouraged. Mary really wanted to give the best to God and to the recipients in Kin On. She got onto her knee that night and asked God for deliverance.  The next morning, she walked out of her room and saw these beautifully weaved paper hearts. She was furthermore surprised and thankful that most of the inmates in the unit helped out - about 40 of them. What great team work!
 
In September 2003, the first group of paper hearts was ready. We set 11, 2002 to be the day to bring the hearts to Kin On in person. There were over a hundred residents in Kin On, but we knew that making that many paper hearts would be a stretch. One week prior to that, Mary found out about the shortage, and she committed to making enough for us. In 3 days she and her team made more than 30 hearts available. Moreover, they made paper treasure boxes to put the hearts in.  And we were ready!

-.-

Fion, William, Man Lung, Roger, Steven and I arrived at Steven's place at 9:30am on 10/11/03. Fion had made some paper roses and Steven made some paper birds to supplement the paper gifts. We practiced the songs that we were going to present in Kin On, we prayed, and we enjoyed the breakfast and fellowship Steven facilitated. We also helped put the hearts into the special paper boxes that the inmates made.
 
At 11:30am, we arrived at Kin On. Kin On is actually a very comfortable living environment with warm nursing staff. We sang two songs in the dining room and explained to them that the inmates from FDC cared about them, but since they could not come in person, they'd asked us to bring these paper hearts along as gifts of love. They opened the treasure boxes, many faces lit up, as if the treasure inside emanated a majestic glow. The residents as well as the staff picked up the hearts, tried to take some of it apart to examine their intricacies and marveled at the workmanship.

Some of the residents were not able to come to the dining area because they were too ill to get up, so we brought the hearts, flowers and birds to them in person. One lady who wore a neck support always had her face looking downward. When she saw us coming and the gifts, she strained to look at us with a pair of smiling lips and appreciative eyes. After going around once, we ran into Mr. Lo who had not been in the dining hall earlier. He took the gifts as if they were from angels. Wait, the gifts were actually from angels, weren't they?

-.-

On the other side of town - a place surrounded by concrete and metal bars that no one cared to go to - their lay on a table pieces of colored paper. Who is going to glue them into a heart? Who is going to glue the inmates and the lonely elders together? Who is going to glue our own broken hearts together? Without a doubt he will ... 

(Note: The Heart Renewal Prison Ministry is a cross-church effort sponsored by the Kirkland Chinese Church of the Nazarene. We started visiting SeaTac Federal Detention Center since May 2000. The name "Mary" is fictitious to protect the anonymity of the inmate.)

Peter